離開
進入《中英對照讀新聞》For Syrian women, search for soulmate comes up empty 對敘利亞女性而言，尋找靈魂伴侶只落得一場空
敘利亞首都大馬士革的一家婚紗店。（法新社檔案照）
◎孫宇青
Syrian student Nour wistfully examines her bare ring finger, then scans fellow classmates around her at Damascus University. Amid the sea of women, there’s no eligible single man in sight.
敘利亞學生諾爾若有所思地看著自己空無一物的無名指，接著掃視大馬士革大學裡的同班同學。在女人堆中，遍尋不著一名合適的單身男子。
At 30, Nour says she is eager to get married － but Syria’s protracted conflict means potential suitors have emigrated, joined the army or lost their lives.
30歲的諾爾說自己很渴望婚姻，但敘利亞漫長的內戰，讓潛在的追求者不是移民、從軍，就是已一命嗚呼。
Syria’s conflict erupted in 2011 with mass protests, just as Nour was preparing to graduate with her first degree in economics. Later Nour has opted to pursue her second degree at Damascus University in literature.
敘利亞在2011年爆發大規模示威後陷入內戰，當時諾爾即將取得第一個經濟學學位。之後，諾爾選擇在大馬士革大學攻讀第二個文學學位。
"I’ve got nothing to fill my time with. No friend, no lover, no husband," Nour sighs, pulling her dyed blonde hair away. "I’m terrified I’ll find a grey hair before I get married."
「我不知道如何打發時間。沒有朋友、沒有情人、也沒有丈夫。」諾爾一邊感嘆，一邊撥開染成金黃色的秀髮。「我很害怕在我出嫁前，頭上就出現華髮。」
In Syria’s conservative society, women were generally expected to marry in their 20s, but the lack of eligible bachelors has somewhat relaxed those norms.
在保守的敘利亞社會，女性通常被期待20幾歲就結婚，但由於欠缺合適的單身漢，這些規範已有所鬆動。
"Now, a woman could marry at 32 without people saying she’s late to wed," said Salam Qassem, a psychology professor in Damascus.
大馬士革心理學教授薩朗．卡瑟姆說：「女性現在就算在32歲結婚，也沒人會說她晚嫁了。」
新聞辭典
wistful：形容詞，沉思的。例句：Jane seemed wistful after the phone call.（講完電話後，珍一副若有所思的樣子。）
protracted：形容詞，長時間的。例句：Jane was implicated in a protracted legal battle.（珍被捲入漫長的法律訴訟戰。）
suitor：名詞，追求者。例句：The accuser used to be Jane’s suitor.（原告曾追求過珍。）
